THE WRITER
Richard Curtis says he came up with the idea to write a Love Actually sequel after watching the film in a cinema with just NINE people at Christmas.
The British film remains hugely popular, and was voted Britain’s No1 Christmas film, but in New York over the festive period it was not a big draw.
Director Curtis, 60, says he hadn’t seen it for a decade until he went with wife Emma as a Christmas treat from their daughter. Apart from him and his family, there were just a couple of people kissing in the back row and two people dozing at the front.
So he began to think of a new story 13 years on, Red Nose Day Actually.
He said: “I thought I could do a little special of Love Actually set on Red Nose Day. It seemed a good moment.
“Every year Red Nose Day strikes me as a demonstration of the basic generosity of the British public – the basic decency that sees other people’s lives are hard, and wants to help.
“And at this time – when things feel strained, and complicated – it felt like an opportunity to think again whether love still is actually all around.”
He added: “Even though things seem very chaotic, people fundamentally, person-to-person, when faced for the need to be compassionate, are very compassionate.”
Sadly for fans, it will last just 12 minutes in comparison to the original, over two hours long.
Curtis admitted: “You can be sure Bill Nighy’s Billy Mack would still be releasing dodgy records and Hugh Grant’s Prime Minister would still be doing a dodgy dance.
“And I did want one or two of the couples to have a kid or two – and I did want to see what had happened to Liam Neeson’s son, once he was all grown up.”